Opportunity and Procrastination. Living in Abundance. Jn.10:10b. Sept. 2013

Our God is awesome and He does awesome and wonderful things. He is a wonder-working, miracle-performing God. I have discovered that in wonders; in His miracles; in all that God does, he is a respecter of time and season. God does not waste time. Time is very precious to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That is why He said in the scriptures that we must redeem the time (Eph. 5:16). We should seek Him while He may be found; we should seek God early (Is.55:6, Prov. 8:17). We must redeem the time! For instance God specifically instructed the children of Israel that the Passover meal, for maximum outcome, must be taken in haste; It was to be taken promptly; on time. No procrastinations. No delays (Ex. 12:11).

There is a general saying that procrastination is a thief of time. Some also say, though erroneously, that opportunity comes just once. Even when we may want to argue and say; well, opportunity can present itself more than once, the fact still remains that many have lost great opportunities and chances to move forward and become great in this life as a result of procrastination. What is an Opportunity and what is procrastination? I will rather simply define opportunity to be an open door, an uncommon avenue that the God of Heaven creates for His children to take advantage of and move forward to the next level. Procrastination simply means to put-off; to postpone what needs to be done now to some other, next, time. We have all it takes to perform that task/project now; we have all it takes to make use of that opportunity now; we have all it takes to do that evangelism and preaching now; we have all it takes to complete that application now; we have all it takes to go for that job interview now; we have all it takes to submit that business proposal now; However, for some strange, flimsy and unsustainable reasons/excuses we decide not to do that which is needful now. Instead we put everything off to some other, future, time.

Our God works with time. He is the God that created the seasons of the Earth. Everything works according to times and seasons. We have to be on time with God. When we delay, we lose; When God is asking us to move and we refuse to move or we put it off to the next time, we lose. When we procrastinate, we inadvertently give room to the emergence of extraneous factors and variables beyond human control and comprehension; such that could strangely alter the entire dynamic of the initial situation/opportunity and minimize the ultimate outcome. When we act on time, we win.

The first time Jesus met Peter He gave him an awesome miracle (Lk5:1-11). Peter saw what he had never seen before. His net broke under the weight of a multitude of fishes, the like of which he had never caught before. Peter didn’t wait till the next time he would run into Jesus. He simply left fishing and immediately followed Jesus. The opportunity came and he made immediate use of it and he ended up being the pillar upon which the church of God was built. If Peter had waited; trying to figure out whether or not to follow the messiah, that opportunity (of becoming the pillar) would have eluded him, perhaps, forever.

Isaac wanted to bless his first son Esau. I mean the blessing was for the man; Esau who went out to Hunt and prepare the best meal for His father. I know, and you know that yes, Rebekah told Jacob what His father was planning to do. We may say whatever we will about Jacob; we may call him whatever name we want, but the fact remains that Jacob acted fast when a divine opportunity came to him. He didn’t delay, He didn’t procrastinate. I mean if Jacob had not acted fast; If Jacob had procrastinated; if Jacob had said “mother, I have heard you, but we will prepare the food tomorrow instead” he would have been out of time and he wouldn’t have received the blessings that were meant for Esau. Check the scriptures, Esau walked in for the blessings when Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob; “And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting”(Gen. 27:30). If Jacob had wasted time, despite all the privileged, prior information and advantage he had, he would have missed the blessings of Isaac.

In 1Kgs chapter 13 we read the story of the old prophet and the young prophet. We know the story very well. However there was a timing blunder that was made by the young prophet. He was to carry out God’s command concerning Bethel and go back to Judah. By God’s program he was not supposed to sit down under any oak tree to rest before going home. If that was included in the plan, God would have given him express instructions to that effect. But it simply wasn’t there. The young prophet was to finish his assignment in Bethel and go back Judah. Well, he stopped somewhere to rest for a while before heading home. Do you know that if the young prophet did not stop to catch some rest; if the young prophet had not waited under the oak tree, the old prophet wouldn’t have met him? Don’t forget that God made it such that the old prophet was so busy, doing his own thing that he didn’t have the opportunity of meeting the young prophet in Bethel. It was the sons of the old prophet that told him the story of the young prophet. By the time the old prophet decided to run after the young prophet, he (the young prophet) had already finished his assignment and was on his way home. Then he became weak and wanted to rest. He thought he had accomplished his work; therefore he should rest a while. It was that little waste of time; that little time of pleasure that cost him his destiny. If he had acted as fast as God was leading him the story would have ended differently.

When Paul and Silas were in detention, the Holy Spirit woke them up to pray. If we check well we will see that they woke up to pray and sing at midnight. Timing! It was at midnight! They didn’t procrastinate (Acts.16:25). They obeyed God and prayed and sang and the Holy Spirit came down and delivered them. Can you imagine, for a moment, what would have happened if Paul and Silas had said ‘well, we will not pray and sing at this time of this night, we will rather do it tomorrow’. It is possible that they would have ended up praying and singing at the wrong time of the wrong night when the Holy Spirit wouldn’t be there to deliver them.

Part of what put Lot’s family in trouble in Sodom and Gomorrah was procrastination. The angels of God had warned Lot and his family to get out early enough. But Lot and his wife wouldn’t have any of that. Eventually when they were forced to leave Sodom, stones of destruction were already falling down from heaven. In surprise, Lot’s wife turned back to see what was going on and she instantly became a pillar of salt. If they had obeyed on time that, perhaps, wouldn’t have happened (Gen. 19:12-26).

There are some of us; believers of our Lord Jesus Christ who have prayed, we have fasted, we have asked God to give us breakthroughs, to give us abundance. I mean, we have asked God to open doors for us. On a daily basis, we have asked God to give us the refreshing dew of heaven. Our God is able, He is faithful, and He is ever ready. However, when God opens such doors; when He answers us we begin to procrastinate. We say “well, I am so tired and I can’t do that now; I can’t fill out that application now; the requirements are so intricate, I believe I should rather do it by this time tomorrow; I know that I am supposed to call that man on phone this morning, but I think he is a very busy man, I don’t think he will be able to pick his calls now; In any case it is too early to bother people on the phone this time, I think I should rather call him in the evening or night time when he would be back from work” etc. Meanwhile, it is the same man that had given us his business card and specifically requested that we should give him a call in the morning. Strange indeed!

There are some other persons that have received a revelation to start a business venture by the side now, as they are still gainfully employed and they are still procrastinating. They say we know this our present job will last forever, let’s hang in here and do the business when we retire. When they retire, they suddenly discover that even though they have the time and the money, the business opportunity that came out then, is long gone and forever gone. There are some brothers that God would lead to particular sisters, and say ‘this moment I want you to pick up your phone and call this sister. Do it now. And they would say, “we meet in church every Sunday. What’s the haste. I would rather speak to her in church next Sunday”. Unknown to them before the next Sunday comes, the sister would have rather received a strange phone call from a counterfeit, a usurper that is not supposed to be in the sister’s life, and that could make all the difference. God may be leading some other individuals to go back to school now, but they would consider some prevailing factors such as their current age(s). In the end they would say ‘we still have time. We shall do it next year”.

There are some churches and pastors that God had told to take a bold step of faith concerning some Project, Property, buildings, evangelism, outreaches etc. They know they heard clearly from God and they constantly delay, because they think that they are not yet ready for where God is taking them to; may be because they don’t have the huge number of members at this time. By the time they get ready in future, the opportunity is already lost. God may be leading us to go and preach the gospel to a particular person or group of persons and somehow we delay. Unknown to us that may be the very last opportunity such person(s) may have to receive the good news of eternal salvation. We must work in a timely manner. Almighty God wants us to redeem the time.

Friend, whatever God is leading you to do must be done in haste. If God says it should be done today, we must not postpone it till tomorrow. Whatever vision God has given to you must be moved forward immediately without haste. We shouldn’t delay. God has opened many doors to many of His children. He is still opening more. The problem is that many of us are leaving today’s jobs/responsiblities for tomorrow. We leave what should be done now for tomorrow. If we want to continue to live in abundance; if we want to take our portion in redemption we must learn to work in a timely manner. We must learn to obey God on a constant and consistent “now/today” basis.

Procrastination is a destroyer of opportunities. Most of what God is bringing our way is time-bound; That prospect of preaching to that sinner so that he/she will give his/her life to Christ is time-bound; that prospect of a new job is time bound. That opportunity to start a new business that will succeed or to successfully expand your present business, is time bound. That opportunity of purchasing that Property for the Lord’s use may be time bound. You must walk fast and you must work now. If you delay you may miss a rare, one-in-a-season divine opportunity. You may never have that opportunity again. Ever! I pray that we will listen to God and obey in a timely manner in Jesus mighty name, Amen!

If you have not given your life to Christ please do so now for tomorrow might be too late.